West Virginia Trips After Texas Tech’s Odiase Sets the Tone

Texas Tech vs West Virginia (Monday, February 4th, 2019)

The Kansas Jayhawks dominated Texas Tech in Lawrence on Saturday, and after the game Norense Odiase had strong words for his team.

"We can't come out like this," Odiase said. "We might as well pack it up now if we're playing like that. We can never ever come out like that again."

Just two days later, Texas Tech took out all their pent-up frustrations on a hapless West Virginia. 80-51 was the final score, but the game wasn't really as close as you'd think. West Virginia was actually leading the game with about 13 minutes left in the first half when Norense Odiase got a tie ball under the basket.

It might not seem like much in the box score, but Odiase fought for the ball well after the whistle and tore it away from the West Virginia defender before handing it back to the half. The mental game was done at that point.

Paul Roberts, Talk 1340

Odiase bullied West Virginia into submission, and they folded like origami. From that moment on Texas Tech outscored West Virginia by 34 points.

There was also a moment in the second half that would have a secondary effect on the two teams.

With just under 17 minutes left in the second half, Matt Mooney went into the West Virginia bench on a hustle play. As Mooney returned into the fold, a bench player, Logan Routt, tripped him.

It was Keenan Evans' favorite play of the game:

West Virginia would only make nine shots from the floor and would shoot 23 percent in the 31-point loss. Texas Tech, by comparison, shot 48 percent from the field.

Odiase was my player of the game. He finished with 9 points, 10 boards and a bad-ass intimidator moment under the basket. Brandone Francis also had a big game, leading all scorers with 16 points. Jarrett Culver finished with 12 points.